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Abstract:
Human cognition is richly dynamic. Examining this quantitatively requires tasks that pose evolving and context-dependent problems to participants. As most behavioral testing is moving online, it is necessary to develop measurement tools that permit interactive computations. We present a new methodology which allows for flexible and sophisticated forms of dynamic task evolution and offers an attractive experience for participants and developers alike. Utilizing strengths from both visual, interactive languages (JavaScript) and sophisticated analytic languages (R, Python), we implement a client-server architecture. Here, all computationally intense operations for an online neurocognitive task run in a cloud-based server rather than in a browser. The server receives all data from a participant’s behavior in the task, allowing later stages of the task to be updated dynamically to pose appropriate problems to the participant. The Application Programming Interface (API) to interact with the server uses a customizable R script to process data received from the participant, allowing any specified computations to be performed before returning data to the browser-based JavaScript task, facilitating tight control over the state of the task. This methodology is intended to minimize the limitations of visual programming while retaining interactive and aesthetically pleasing task presentation. We suggest that this offers a unique solution to cognitive testing online and in the lab. A containerized implementation of this methodology is open-source and available on GitHub to minimize all effort in setting up the task: https://github.com/Brain-Development-and-Disorders-Lab/task_template_dynamic
